griffithaikido : Message: Thursday Notices

Thursday Notices – 21.12.06

This is your Thursday emailout of notices for 21.12.06 to club members and interested parties on Yahoo groups regarding club matters and upcoming events. If you have something to include or a constructive comment to improve this newsletter, please let me know.

Hello everyone,

Our club President has suggested we give these Thursday Notices a name. Any suggestions? Just email me back and I’ll continue offering your suggestions for comment. I was also thinking our Japanese club members may have some plays on Japanese words/concepts which might work.

Another name suggested by Simon Sensei is ‘Haiku’. Haiku is a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in 3 lines of 5, 7 & 5 traditionally evoking images of the natural world.

Any comments or more suggestions?

Steve M.

Contents:

1. Aikido Over The Xmas Break

2. Fridge Genie

3. Maruyama Sensei 2007

4. “Taking Stock”

5. Goshinkan Dojo Misogi Bell

6. Membership Form to be completed in January

7. Cleveland Dojo - Weapons in the Park

8. Club Sponsorship

9. Entertainment Section

10. Previous news (but good news) – worth another read!:

1. Aikido Over The Xmas Break

Classes at Nathan, Logan and Red Hill have now finished for the year, and will resume on Monday 8^t^h January, 2007.

BUT…if you really can’t get by without an aikido fix, Simon Sensei will be running a South Brisbane dojo class tomorrow, Friday 22^nd. Last chance to feed your addiction and sweat before consumption of too much food and alcohol!! See previous news below, or the website for details of times and location, and please let me know if you’re coming.

2. Fridge Genie

Lots of jobs just get done around the dojo, but they’re all done by volunteers, and every little job done makes it easier for everyone. Chris Cobban has been our fridge genie for about eight months, quietly filling the fridge with drinks and treats for club members (like the tim tam genie – drinks and chokkies just seem to reappear). Chris isn’t able to continue with this role, unfortunately. Is there anyone who would like to take on this role on behalf of the club? Just give me a call and I’ll fill you in.

A big thank you to Chris for being our third fridge genie (it used to be done by Charlie Sensei and Danny Sensei till Chris took over!).

3. Maruyama Sensei 2007

I am delighted to announce that we will again have Maruyama Sensei in Brisbane next year. The dates are Friday 28th September to Wednesday 3rd October, which is very exciting! These dates fall in the Queensland and NSW school holidays.

This seminar is also likely to be somewhat larger in terms of numbers on the mat and it goes for 6 days as well. The Nathan dojo is probably not big enough, so arrangements are being made for an alternative venue, with the Mt. Gravatt showgrounds being the most likely contender.

Maruyama Sensei’s 2007 tour will include Brisbane, Melbourne, New Zealand and Fiji as tour venues. Melbourne’s seminar will be held from Friday 5^th – Wednesday 10^th October, which will mostly fall in the Vic. and SA school holidays. Class times and venue to be advised.

Maruyama sensei will also be celebrating his 50^th Anniversary of teaching Aikido in Hawaii on the 12^th, 13^th and 14^th of July. Tony Neal Sensei has already advised via these notices, that he is organising a contingent of aikidoka from Brisbane. If you’re interested, please let Tony Neal Sensei know at tony@allsignsandplastics.com.au

Details about the seminar are available at www.akachawaii.com/aloha.html

I will post more information in these notices as venues and classes are finalised.

Danny James

4. “Taking Stock”

Yet another year is drawing to a close & we once again find ourselves taking stock of our efforts that has brought us here. We ask the questions, “are we where we wanted to be”, “have we done our best” “could we have done more”, “what do we have to show for our efforts” & so on. With our Aikido it can be quite simple & for those fortunate enough to wear a coloured belt, some of these questions are easy, you just need to look down & see if the colour has changed. But we need to judge ourselves beyond the rank & file & take an honest look at whether we have be doing all we can.

It can be as simple as counting the classes we attended but that really is a little hollow. Look further & we can judge whether we paid true homage to the art & to ourselves. Did we turn up on time & help set up? Did we maintain a good Seiza posture? Did we pay 100% attention to the class? Did we talk ourselves into not going to class?… and so on. But I’m here to tell you that, as easy or as hard it is for you to answer these questions, it’s still a shallow perspective of the potential of Aikido training.

Now, can you give a true answer to the following: How much training have I done off the mat & away from the dojo? Answer this one question & all the other ones may seem a little worthless. As we enter a short break from regular classes, it is timely that we review our efforts of solo training. Many new students hold the belief that we need mats, Ukes & a Gi to be able to practice our beloved art. This thinking is OK for a new student, but for those that have done at least one grading, experience will have told us otherwise. Leading up to that first grading we would have danced around the back yard or lounge room, visualising Uke, correcting our posture & body alignment as we went through the moves in slow motion. This type of solo training is essential to our growth & development as it provides us with an environment that cannot exist with an Uke.

Only in this solo environment can we traverse new heights & depths in our understanding of the art. In solo training we rely on our mind to push our will & our mind to lead our body. It forges the shapes & forms of our art into our body & then into our subconscious mind. I would go as far as to say that solo training accounts for 70% of our potential, which means that just training on the mat in the dojo will only deliver 30% of our potential.

If you are not yet converted to the idea of focused solo training, spare some time to think back on the year’s events & look for the times when your Aikido shapes & forms came to the fore without your thinking. For those who were lucky enough to attend the Systema Knife Defence workshop that was held 2 weeks ago, would have heard, or found themselves saying things like “I was doing this or that & suddenly Shihonage (or insert other Aikido technique name here) came out”. Most of the feedback I got from the Systema workshop was not about the Systema but about how surprised students were that their Aikido came out & worked without them consciously thinking about it.

Think about how much more could come out & how much more effective it would be if there was more in there to start with. And how do you get more in there?? Solo training. We are really lucky in this club in that we have regular classes with lots of Ukes so it’s easy to think that the class time is training. This thinking should be changed around & instead we should be taking what we learnt from class, going home & practicing it to death & then bringing it & our newfound facets back to the next class to try them out on the unsuspecting Ukes. If you’re not sure, try it over the Christmas break, what have you got to lose? It’s a poorly guarded secret that the keys to improve our Aikido lie in the Taiso, the weapons kata & the technique kata. Three not so secret aspects that can & must be trained by ourselves.

I hope you can all come back from your Christmas break feeling newfound strengths from your solo training.

Simon Russell

5. Goshinkan Dojo Misogi Bell

Goshinkan Dojo at Byron Bay will be having it’s traditional Misogi Bell ringing in the New Year on January 1 at 10am if any Brisbane people might be interested.

6. Membership Form to be Completed in January

I just want to remind everyone that you will need to complete a new membership form for 2007, when you return in January. There is a membership fee (see previous news below), but mat fees which you should have already paid in December cover January as well.

Jutta Dowdy

7.        Cleveland Dojo - Weapons in the Park

For anyone feeling the need for some training between Christmas and New Year, I will be having an informal weapons session on Thursday 28 December.

Location:        Cox Park, Richard Street, LOTA
Time:              From 9.00am
Clothing:        Comfy attire - no need for gi's
Cost:               $2.00 to cover the sausage sizzle

After the training we will adjourn to my back deck (just across the road @ 53 Richard Street) for a sausage sizzle and some cold liquid (BYO liquid of choice). If you need to keep any drinks cold I have a fridge (you can put the drinks in before we train) on the back deck.

Note : -- for the purpose of catering I need to know who will be there, so let me know if you want to come
Phone: 0419 023 700
Email: aikido@...

Thom Hansen

8. Entertainment Section

These Thursday Notices are meant for all our club members to contribute to. They’re not meant to be just a news service. And beginners sometimes feel they don’t know enough to contribute meaningfully. This is absolutely not the case. All our members are interested in news, but they’re also very, very interested in the way others perceive aikido, what they get out of aikido, how they weave aikido training into their lives, and so on. So members, and that definitely includes beginners, should not hesitate to contribute.

It probably appears that all the items in these notices are about news, and you need to be an instructor or executive member to contribute. Absolutely not true. I’m wanting to encourage all sorts of contributions from all our club members. I think I need to go first, though, to show you there’s stuff other than news which is welcome. Anybody got any limericks? I wrote the verse below as a contribution for a club newsletter that almost went ahead about a year after I started aikido.

Anyway, hopefully you’ll enjoy the product of my feverish beginners mind:

Some Thoughts of an Older Beginner

I’m getting older now and the joints were creaking

So a sort of sport was what I was seeking

My body was slowly starting to rust

I had to do something to unsettle the dust

I sometimes think about my distant youth

They were times of sport and times uncouth

And even though I had a ball

They’re increasingly difficult days to recall

So, I considered gym as a genuine notion

But it required significant devotion

I’ve done it before and it was a definite bore

The call to the gym would be a call I’d ignore

Swimming isn’t pleasant when the weather’s not hot

And public pools and kids mean litres of snot

Every kid sneezing means a likely infection

Swimming for me was an easy rejection

Jogging was also definitely out

Even though it might get me out and about

Strains my ankles and makes me hobble

I’d have to hold my belly to stop the wobble

Walking is an activity which has been suggested

But it fails to burn up all the food I’ve ingested

I’ve done it for years, I was a walking machine

But I’m also still not particularly lean

In the end, I just needed to move

Something that might improve my groove

I liked that Aikido wasn’t about competition

And offered a non-combative tradition

Aikido seemed to be the way

To the way of harmony I heard someone say

But I just wanted fitness and flexibility

And perhaps self-defensive ability

After a year or so I’ve emerged from confusion

Although I’m sure that’s just a handy illusion

And while I think I understand the key to ki

The way of harmony is not yet to be

There’s discord between my muscles and mind

Over-thinking the moves is what I find

And my failing memory makes me freak

When I’m trying to remember a lengthy technique

And my skills probably lack some synchronisation

But there is a degree of consolation

My vitality is great and my fitness increased

My flexibility has grown and my creaking has ceased

Muscles are stronger and tendons robust

I’ve definitely unsettled the dust

I arrive at training ready to start

I absolutely feel a little younger at heart

Steve Mitchell

9. Club Sponsorship

We are proud to announce our new sponsorship arrangement with Brisbane based residential home loan manager, Direct Credit Home Loans Australia. As part of an ongoing relationship, Direct Credit Home loans has made an attractive home loan offer to our club members, their family & friends. In addition, they have offered to pay us a spotter’s fee on each home loan referred through the club.

I sent a separate email two weeks ago detailing our sponsorship arrangement with Direct Credit Home Loans Australia. If you didn’t receive it but want the details, please let me know. Many thanks to Gary Weigh, one of our brand new 3^rd kyu’s, who has arranged this sponsorship.

10. Previous news (but good news) below – worth another read!:

Weapons Training

Hi everyone,

With XMAS nearly upon us the dojo will be closed for some time. I'd like to encourage all the aiki-nuts out there to consider weapons training if you need an aikido fix during the break. O'Sensei studied a number of weapons arts (in addition to the daito-ryu-aiki-jujitsu) before developing aikido. Weapons training is a vehicle that allows us to develop an understanding of body alignment, power in our movements, grace and fluidity. It develops a greater awareness of the line of the attack, where the power is in an attack and how to move with/around it as well as an awareness of ma-ai (correct distance). Maruyama sensei provides us with many weapons kata to develop our understanding of these. These include:

Bokken

Sword of nine directions (how to tune and focus our minds in different directions giving 100% to each)

Free wielding sword (to develop fluidity of movement)

Shinken koro no ken (to fully develop power in cuts)

Sword of the dream (to explore meditation through sword and pure cuts)

also 2 seasons and 4 seasons kata are used as well

Shooting Star

Butterfly

Jo 3 (to explore the other weapons that Jo encompasses)

Also have the 4 count and 5 count kata

There are many many other drills as well that we do in class and are suited to solo practice as well. Additionally there are Bokken parts for partners in the Jo kata that allow us to more fully understand the martial significance of the kata

Paired Kata

These kata are done with a partner Ken vs. ken, Ken vs. Jo, They develop an awareness of Ki extension, ma-ai and an understanding of the openings created from attacks (and highlight movements that we can improve on)

Rising moon - learning to mirror our partners movement

Lightning - learning to move before our partner

Kumijo - an excellent tool for understanding where the power in an attack starts and stops, moving on a partners ki, ma-ai at 4 different ranges, finding shikaku

Sengakuyenno tachi (Shinkage Ryu sword kata) taught at last seminar 'Do not forget' Maruyama Sensei said!

Maruyama sensei also encourages us to practice them left handed as well. In fact the Jo Kats finish with the Jo held in the opposite hanmi in readiness for this, thus conventionally an additional 'ichi' is added to them to allow the Kata to finish in the starting position for grading purposes

For those interested a number of Nathan students and I have been practicing Kumijo from 6-6:15pm prior to the Tuesday and Thursday classes (but after mats are down and uniforms are on), we would be pleased to have you join us

Danny James

Gradings - Congratulations

What an exciting evening it was with 17 people grading at all levels. The whole room was buzzing with anticipation and joy each time someone finished their grading. As many watching students remarked: “It was great to see the progression as the grades moved up one step further".

Our heartiest congratulations go to the following students who all performed exceptionally well

2^nd Kyu: Timothy Piatkowski & Suresh Thennarangam

3rd Kyu: Garry Weigh & Eri Takahashi

4th Kyu: Azim Hamid & Dominique O'Brien

5th Kyu: Sheree Anderson & Shirin Mohebbi

6th Kyu: Karren Hutton/ Eric Ohlsen/ Aaron Robertson/ Keita Hada

7th Kyu: Steve Bowen/ Ross Ebert/ Brett Wilcock/ Paul Blyth/ Matthew Burt

The pizza party at the end made it a memorable evening.

We also added two worthy (1 retired from aikido) students to our Life Membership list:

Dr Edwin Dowdy

Dr Michael Coughlin

A beautiful certificate was presented to them by our Sensei to remind them of their past services to the club.

Keep up the training everyone! We hope to see you all at the Christmas party on Saturday 9^th December . Training will continue until 16^th December.

If you are already heading for overseas or other holiday destinations, have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year.

Jutta Dowdy

Mat Fees and Club Membership Fees

Jutta wants everyone to know that Membership fees are due at the beginning of the year and should be paid in January. Remember that mat fees paid in December cover January as well, so it will be the usual mat fees in December and then membership fees in January. The University requires University clubs to charge a membership fee. The University has also recently required us to charge Griffith University students a lesser membership fee than other members (this does not apply to other students from other educational institutions). Great for GU students, same as always for the rest of us.

Please be advised that annual membership fee in the new year will be $15 for all members who are also bona fide Griffith Uni students. For other members, including instructors, annual membership fee remains at $30. Children whose parents are financial members (and therefore have paid the membership fee) don't pay membership fees. Other children pay a membership fee of $10.

Also, if you have graded, there is a small grading fee. As always, it is not good etiquette to have someone chase you.

GUAC 2006 Planning Retreat Report

Griffith Aikido has grown into a very successful dojo but it’s a bit like the proverbial iceberg, with a lot of activity below the surface to make it so. Therefore last weekend your executive and other interested people took the trip to northern NSW to The Permaforest Trust which is owned by our aikido friend Tim Winton. After a fabulous lunch which had been provided for us we walked up to the purpose built dojo for the first session of The Planning Retreat lead by our very own Gary Weigh.

It was hard yakka, but somehow Gary managed to keep our group focused on the task at hand and by the time dinner was served we had managed to identify the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats for our club and had a list of Goals for 2007. Then after our stomachs were full, the second session started, looking at defining our vision and mission statements. Luckily it wasn’t a marathon session like the first or I think there would have been a revolt J, however the group did manage to let it’s hair down around a fire with a couple of guitars (thanks to Paul, Andrew and Chris). A neon glowing fire twirling stick also added to the laughter.

The next day started with a cooked breakfast and then our club president/chief instructor was put under the microscope. Difficult for Danny but a little bit of fun for the rest of us to watch him squirm. We examined leadership and how that translates into our club culture and how the club operates. We then looked more closely at Danny’s leadership style, as it is very important to the current success of the club. We also considered our plan of action if a succession of leadership is thrust upon the club at some stage, as it is a possibility.

We finally got one last chance to have another tasty vegetarian meal, a little tired post-retreat conversation, then we thanked our hosts for their hospitality and took our leave.

Overall, a long weekend with lots of work and a little play. Many thanks to those who attended and contributed their thoughts and concerns, cautions and enthusiasm, as we look to the future. Planning as professionally as we have will help us to continue our growth and replicate our successes. A very special thank you to Gary who volunteered his professional skills.

Charlene Willis